Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey versus Vermont on February 7, 2026 , Win , 6, to, 1
Men's Ice Hockey
vs Vermont
Final
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Providence College Athletics
2000 Frozen Four School Preview
4/3/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
April 3, 2000
St. Lawrence University Hockey
One of the smallest schools in terms of enrollment in men's Division I ice hockey, St. Lawrence University is making its 14th appearance in the NCAA tournament and secured the bye and the number two Eastern seed by winning both the ECAC regular season and tournament titles. The 1999-2000 season was the first time the Saints were outright regular season champions and marked the fifth ECAC tournament crown, four of them under coach Joe Marsh.
Charter members of the ECAC in ice hockey, the Saints made their 16th consecutive ECAC tournament appearance since 1985 and the 15th in a row under coach Marsh. The Saints, who finished second in the tournament a year ago, are a perfect 7-0 in ECAC semifinal games under Marsh and have come back to win the title each year after finishing second in the previous tournament.
St. Lawrence is looking for its first NCAA Tournament championship. The Saints have been second twice, losing to Denver in the 1961 title game and to Lake Superior in overtime in the 1988 championship game at Lake Placid. This is the ninth Saint appearance in the Frozen Four, but seven of them were in the 1950s and 1960s when only four teams were selected to play for the tournament. The 1988 team was the last to reach the Frozen Four. The 3-2 four-overtime victory over Boston University was the Saints first overtime victory in five tries in NCAA tournament action.
St. Lawrence is playing its 61st season of intercollegiate ice hockey and brings an all-time record of 796-645-59 into the semifinals. The Saints, 27-7-2 this season, recorded their tenth 20-or-more win season in the 61 years of intercollegiate play. Eight of the ten 20-plus win seasons have come in Marsh's tenure as head coach including the two winning-est seasons in SLU history, 1987-88 and 1988-89 when his teams won 29 games each year. The current 27 wins is third on the all-time list.
The Saint hockey program has produced 22 All America players, six ECAC Tournament Most Valuable Players, three ECAC Players of the Year, four Hobey Baker Award finalists and four ECAC Rookies of the Year including this year's Rookie of the Year and ECAC Tournament MVP, freshman goalie Derek Gustafson.
THE SEASON
The Saints finished the 1999-2000 regular season with a 22-7-2 overall record and 16-3-1 in the ECAC. The Saints marched through the ECAC tournament with a 4-0 record to improve to 26-7-2 and by virtue of winning both the regular season title and the tournament championship drew the second seed in the East regional.The historic 3-2 four-overtime win over BU improves the Saints to 27-7-2 this season, the third best record in Saint hockey history.
SLU went 16-1-0 on Appleton ice this season, tying the records for most home wins in a season and fewest home losses. It was the best home ice record in terms of winning percentage in Saint hockey history. The 22-7-2 final regular season record is the third-best in Saint hockey history, trailing only the 1988-89 team (25-5-0) and the 1987-88 squad (23-7-0).
The Saints head into the NCAA semifinals on a nine-game win streak and have won 18 of their last 19. They had a nine-game win streak snapped at Brown on Feb. 19 and won eight straight to open the current season.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
The Saints are in pursuit of their first NCAA title after finishing second in both 1961 and 1988. St. Lawrence is making its second straight tourney appearance (the Saints lost to Colorado College 5-2 in last year's first round) and its second semifinal appearance under coach Joe Marsh. Since the start of seeding for the NCAA tournament, Marsh's teams have earned three second East seeds (1988, 1992 and 2000) and were seeded third in the East in 1989. His teams made three straight appearances from 1986-89.
ECAC TITLES
The Saints made their 16th consecutive appearance in the ECAC post-season tournament and their 15th in a row under coach Marsh. The Saints were the top seed in the tournament for the first time in history and won their fifth ECAC title since the start of the tournament. It was the fourth tournament crown for a Marsh-coached team, tying him with Ned Harkness and Jack Parker as the only coaches to win four ECAC championships.
AGAINST THE REST OF THE FIELD
The Saints went 2-3-1 against the rest of the 2000 tournament field in 1999-2000 regular season games. SLU beat Niagara 2-1 in Niagara Falls, split with Colgate, losing 4-3 in Hamilton and winning 5-1 in Canton, sustained their only home loss at the hands of New Hampshire (3-1 including an empty-netter) and lost 4-1 and tied 6-6 at Wisconsin.
THE SEMIFINAL MATCHUP
The Saints are 1-1 in NCAA tournament games against Boston College, beating the Eagles 6-2 in the 1955-56 consolation game and losing 7-6 in overtime in the 1958-59 consolation game. Overall, the teams have played 64 times and the Eagles hold a 33-28-3 series edge. BC is 7-0-2 in its last nine games against the Saints and beat SLU 3-2 in the finals of the Icebreaker Classic in Minnesota to start the 1998-99 season and won 6-2 in Canton in a November meeting last year.
SAINTS, SIOUX AND BEARS
If the Saints get past BC and into the championship game, the Saints could meet North Dakota for the fourth time in an NCAA tournament game or the University of Maine for the first time. The Sioux and Saints met in the 1959 semifinals with UND winning 4-3 in overtime and played a quarterfinal series in Grand Forks in 1987 with the Hrkas Circus sweeping the Saints 2-1 and 6-3 for a 8-4 total goals series win. North Dakota leads the all-time series between the two teams 6-1-0. The Saints and Black Bears have played nine times in regular season or in-season tournament play and Maine has a 6-3-0 series lead.
BEEN THERE, SEEN THAT
St. Lawrence has been involved in both of the NCAA tournament's four-overtime games, albeit indirectly in the first one. The Saints were the host school for the 1884 tournament in Lake Placid that featured a win by Bowling Green (and current BC coach Jerry York) in four ten-minute overtimes. And then there was Sunday's marathon with Boston University, the longest game in NCAA tournament history at 123:53 which set a slew of records including saves in a game by Rick DiPietro of Boston University, saves and shots by both teams and shots by one team (80 by SLU). The game took just over six hours to complete.
COACH JOE MARSH
St. Lawrence University's Charles W. Appleton II Hockey Coach Joe Marsh, the 1999 ECAC Coach of the Year, is in his 15th season behind the Saint bench and enters the Frozen Four with a career record of 285-202-28. The current 27-7-2 season marks his eighth 20-win season at St. Lawrence and the ECAC title was the fourth under his watch, tying him with Ned Harkness and Jack Parker for most ECAC tourney coaching titles. His team earned the second Eastern seed for the third time in his career and he will be taking a team to the NCAA tournament for the sixth time in his career. Marsh led his 1998-99 team to a 23-13-3 record and a spot in the ECAC tourney for the 14th straight year. The Saint all-time coaching win leader with 285, he took last year's team, which was picked to finish near the bottom of the ECAC, to a regular season second place finish and a spot in the ECAC title game.
In his 15 seasons behind the Saint bench, he has coached his teams to a total ECAC regular season record of 192-113-22, a .621 winning percentage. The 1999-2000 team's 16-3-1 record (winning percentage of .825) is the best in Saint history and his teams are 33-7-4 (.795) in the last two seasons.
Joe is joined on the Saint staff by Jay Heinbuck (Northeastern '88) who is in his eighth year, and Chris Wells (St. Lawrence '92) who returned to his alma mater this year, replacing Paul Flanagan who is now coach of the Saint women's ice hockey team. Mark Casterline returns for his third year as Saint athletic trainer and will serve as the strength and conditioning coach for both the men's and women's ice hockey programs.
SAINTS IN THE POLLS
The Saints were ranked fifth in the final USCHOL poll, up two spots from the March 13th ranking, and jumped to fourth (from seventh) in USA Today/American College Hockey Magazine poll, and eighth in the final WMPL Coaches Poll. SLU was fifth in the Ratings Percentage Index following its tournament weekend in Lake Placid with the third best win percentage in the country. The Saint record for RPI and NCAA consideration purposes was 24-7-2 as the two wins over Wayne State, an emerging Division I program, did not count toward NCAA consideration.
SEVEN PERIODS A WEEKEND
The Saints have played seven periods of hockey in each of the last three weekends prior to the break before the Frozen Four. They swept Union in a two-game ECAC quarterfinal series, but needed 5:42 of a 20-minute overtime period to eliminate the Dutchmen and advance and then played 14:51 of a 20-minute overtime to get past Cornell 3-2 in the ECAC semifinals before beating Rensselaer in a regulation game, 2-0, for the ECAC title. They played seven periods last weekend too, but did it all in one afternoon...a six hour plus marathon against Boston University which was longer than most television mini-series.
ECAC TOURNEY RECAP
The Saints gained their second straight trip to Lake Placid with a sweep of 10th seed Union in the quarterfinals, but it wasn't easy. SLU had to come from behind in both games to win...8-4 on Friday and 4-3 in overtime on Saturday. The Saints then took on Cornell in the Friday semifinal at Lake Placid and prevailed 3-2 in overtime. The Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Cornell scored on a power play with 1.5 seconds to go in the second period and tied the game 5:30 into the third. Mike Gellard, who assisted on all three Saint goals in the game, made a nifty pass to wide-open Brandon Dietrich in front of the Cornell net at 14:51 of the extra period and Dietrich ended it with a roof shot for his second goal of the night. Jack O'Brien scored the other Saint goal and goalie Derek Gustafson made 25 saves including two from point blank range in the first 1:10 of the overtime. Gustafson recorded his second career shutout and became just the third goalie to post a shutout in the ECAC tourney finals when he blanked Rensselaer 2-0 on Saturday night. Jason Windle scored both goals for the Saints, 1:23 into the first and 1:53 into the second. Gustafson had 30 saves in the title game and earned tourney MVP honors. He was joined on the all tournament team by Dietrich, Windle and defenseman Justin Harney.
THE CAPTAINS
Two Saint seniors wear the "C" and a junior dons the "A" for the Saints this season. Senior defensemen Dale Clarke and Justin Harney are the Saint captains while junior center Erik Anderson is the assistant captain. Clarke and Harney have been four-year mainstays of the Saint defense. All three have been iron men when it comes to staying in the Saint lineup. Clarke has missed just two games in his career...one due to illness this season and the other in his freshman year, while Harney has played in all but one game...Yale last season after a injury at Princeton the night before...in his four seasons. Anderson has played in all but one game in his three seasons at St. Lawrence. He sat out the second Wayne State game this year.
HOME SWEET HOME
The Saints have enjoyed all the comforts of home at Appleton Arena this season as they finished the regular season 14-1-0 overall and 10-0 in ECAC games on the home sheet. Their two quarterfinal wins over Union boost the home ice record to a Saint record 16-1-0 at home. SLU averaged 4.74 goals per game at home while allowing 2.52 while they are averaging 2.40 goals per game and allowing 2.65 in 16 road games. In ECAC road games, the Saints scored 3.61 goals per game and allowed 2.20 SLU is 8-6-2 on the road (including a neutral site) and 6-3-1 in ECAC road games. The Saint power play was actually more effective on the road than at home...converting 25 percent in road games (16 of 64) and 23.7 (23 of 97) at home. The Saint penalty kill allowed just 11 goals in 88 tries at Appleton (87.5 percent) and killed 87 percent on the road. Erik Anderson was the leading scorer in home games with ten of his 14 goals at Appleton and 20 of 23 assists. Alan Fyfe had 13 goals and 12 assists, Brandon Dietrich six goals and 19 assists and Mike Gellard 10 goals and 10 assists in 16 Appleton appearances each. Jeremy Symington had the best home goals against average at 2.25 in four games while Derek Gustafson had a 2.58 goals against average, a .925 save percentage and a 9-1 record at home and a 1.99 goals against average, .938 save percentage and 5-2-2 record on the road.
THE LAST 19:
The Saints have scored 4.11 goals per game and allowed 2.30, going 18-1-0 in their last 19 games. Derek Gustafson appeared in 16 of the 19 with a 2.06 goals against average and a .938 save percentage and went 15-0-0 through the BU game. Erik Anderson has 10 goals and 18 assists, Brandon Dietrich 10 goals and 18 assists, Alan Fyfe 12 goals and 13 assists and Mike Gellard 11 goals and 14 assists during the 18-1 run.
The Saints are 24 for 98 on the power play in the last 19 (24.5 percent) while killing 79 of 93 opponent power plays against them. Fyfe has seven of the 24 power play goals while Anderson, Dietrich and Justin Harney have three each.
Fyfe and Dietrich scored three game winning goals in the last 19 games while Anderson and Jason Windle have netted two each.
REGULAR SEASON TEAM RANKINGS
| NCAA | ECAC | ECAC LEAGUE | RANK | |
| Goals Per Game (3.48) | 13th | 2nd | 3.80 | 2nd |
| Goals Against (2.55) | 9th | 2nd | 2.35 | 2nd |
| Scoring Margin (0.94) | 13th | 3rd | 1.45 | 1st |
| Win Percentage (.742) | 4th | 1st | .825 | 1st |
| Power Play (23.5%) | 4th | 2nd | 22.9% | 3rd |
| Penalty Kill (89.1%) | T-2nd | 1st | 89.4% | 1st |
GOING WITH THE GUSTO
While the Saint coaching staff went with a three-man rotation in goal through much of the season, they have ridden the hot hand down the stretch. Freshman Derek Gustafson has started 15 of the last 19 games and played all of the post-season games. He earned tournament MVP honors, one of just two freshmen to ever win the award, as he had 55 saves on 57 shots in the semifinals and finals and recorded just the third championship game shutout in ECAC tournament history. He is 15-0-0 since January 7. He is second among ECAC goaltenders in goals against average at 2.05 and second in save percentage at .938. His 17-3-2 (.818) winning percentage is best among ECAC goaltenders.
In his last 15 starts (15-0-0) he has a 2.06 goals against average and a .938 save percentage.
Junior Sean Coakley (2.57 GAA and .915 save percentage, 4-3-0 record) has started seven games and junior Jeremy Symington (3.09, .901, 6-1-0) made his eighth start against Wayne State. Coakley played forward in the Wayne State game, becoming the second player in Saint history to play both goal and forward in the same season. Saint trainer Ron Waske was the other player to play forward and goal and did it in the same game.
OFFENSIVE-DEFENSEMEN
The Saint blue line corps knows what to do at both ends of the ice. It has helped the Saints compile a team goals against average of 2.39 thus far this season and has allowed slightly over 33 shots per game by the opposition. At the other end of the rink, defensemen are fifth, sixth and seventh on the Saint scoring chart. Matt Desrosiers has eight goals and 15 assists, Dale Clarke six goals and 17 assists and Justin Harney has four goals and 18 assists. Add in Ray DiLauro's three goals and nine assists, a goal and 13 assists by Josh LeRoy, four goals and eight assists by Kevin Veneruzzo and an assist by Jake Harney and Saint blue liners have contributed 26 goals and 78 assists for 104 points in 36 games.
ON THE D.L.
And this is a D.L. players want to be on. Four members of the Saint men's hockey team earned first-semester Dean's List honors with grade point averages of 3.6 or higher. Forward Kris Margherio and defenseman Josh LeRoy both had perfect 4.0 grade point averages while goalie Sean Coakley and defenseman Kevin Veneruzzo also topped the 3.6 mark. Dean's List is nothing new for Margherio...a two-time winner of the Brian McFarlane Award for academic accomplishment, he has been on the Dean's List in every one of his seven semesters at SLU. His 3.981 grade point average is best in the senior class and he is a Phi Beta Kappa. Veneruzzo has also earned Dean's List honors every semester in his three years at St. Lawrence. Of the 27 members of the men's team, 14 had fall semester grade point averages of 3.0 or higher. Veneruzzo, LeRoy, Margherio and Sean Muir were named to the ECAC Men's Hockey All Academic Team.
TOUGH DECISIONS
The toughest task for the Saint coaching staff has been deciding who to insert into the lineup on a given night. They platooned several players earlier in the year and all have made significant contributions when they've had a chance to play. The Saints have been pretty consistent in their lineup in the stretch run and have used four lines in every game. The only changes in recent games have been the rotation of Blair Clarance and Charlie Daniels as the left wing on a line with Jim Lorentz at center and Robin Carruthers on the right.
DEEP UP THE MIDDLE
The Saints have plenty of depth when it comes to centers as five of the veterans spent time there last season. Erik Anderson centers one line for the Saints, and Brandon Dietrich, who was the second line center last season, has returned to that slot after starting the season on a wing. Dietrich, who had 20 goals and 21 assists as a rookie and led the nation in game winning goals in the regular season, played right wing through the first nine and was back at center for the Colgate game. Sean Muir and Jim Lorentz are the other regular centermen for the Saints and Jason Windle and Charlie Daniels also played in the middle last season and could move there if the need arises. The Saints did an outstanding job on faceoffs in the Boston University game and had the upper hand in that statistical area.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Saint power play finally came to life in the second Wisconsin game after a long drought. The Saints went five for seven against the Badgers and have maintained consistent power play production since. The power play scored at a 23.5 percent clip in the regular season which ranked second among ECAC teams overall and was fourth nationally. The Saints scored at a 22.9 percent clip on the power play in ECAC games which was third among conference teams. The penalty kill has been outstanding, and had a streak of 29 consecutive power play kills. The Saints killed 131 of 147 opponent power plays in the regular season, a 89.1 percentage which led the ECAC overall and was tied for second nationally with St. Cloud and just behind Boston College. The Saints have spread power play scoring throughout a number of different combinations and 11 different players have power play goals and 13 have power play points. The current numbers on the power play are 22.3 percent on 39 of 175 while the penalty kill has stopped 150 of 173, 86.7 percent.
SUPERGIRL'S CAT
Streaky is not only the name of Supergirl's cat, it is also an apt description of the Saint season thus far. The Saints opened the season 8-0, hit some offensive doldrums and went 1-6-1 and then rattled off another nine straight wins and had a ten game unbeaten streak before being bushwhacked at Brown. In the first 8-0 run the Saints rode outstanding defense and an adequate offense...they allowed just 1.50 goals per game while scoring 3.25. In the 9-0-1 roll, they allowed 2.58 goals per game, but scored at a 5.05 per game clip. Brandon Dietrich had 20 points during that streak and scored in nine of the ten games. Erik Anderson had a nine game streak with 15 points while Alan Fyfe had 17 points including nine goals during the streak. The Saints are on another nine game win streak since the Brown game and have won 18 of their last 19 since the second Wisconsin game.
THE ALL STARS
Derek Gustafson was named ECAC Rookie of the Year and was the second team All ECAC goalie. It was the second straight ECAC Rookie of the Year honors for a Saint player. Brandon Dietrich won the award last year and was a first team All ECAC selection this season. Justin Harney was named the ECAC's Best Defensive Defenseman and was a second team all conference choice. He was joined on the second team by Gustafson and Erik Anderson. Alan Fyfe and Dale Clarke were honorable mention choices in the post-season voting by the coaches.
ODDS 'N ENDS
Dietrich took over the power play point lead with 16 on six goals and ten assists. Fyfe now has 15 power play points including nine goals while Desrosiers, Anderson and Harney each have 13 points on the power play. A total of 14 different players have power play points.
Anderson notched his fourth game winning goal against Dartmouth in the final game of the regular season and shares the team lead with Windle, who had his third and fourth in the ECAC tournament (Union game 2 and Rensselaer) and Dietrich, who netted his fourth of the year with the overtime goal in the win over Cornell. Anderson has figured in eight game winning goals, Fyfe has figured in eight game winning goals and Dietrich in seven with either a goal or an assist. A total of 15 different players have been in on game-winning goals.
The top two lines for the Saints have accounted for 76 goals and 180 points (which includes power play points for four of the six players). The line of Windle-Anderson and Fyfe has 89 points while the trio of Gellard, Dietrich and Marchetti has 91.
The Saints finished second in the regular season in terms of being the least penalized team overall in the ECAC at 13.8 minutes per game and were the sixth least penalized team in league play.
SLU led the ECAC in combined special teams both in league play (55.8 percent) and overall (56.1). The Saints were second to Colgate in both league and overall special teams net at plus-16 overall and plus-9 in league play.
| WHEN.... | THE SAINTS ARE |
| Erik Anderson scores at least one point | 19-1-0 |
| Erik Anderson scores a goal | 11-0-0 |
| Alan Fyfe scores at least one point | 17-1-1 |
| Alan Fyfe scores a goal | 12-0-0 |
| Dale Clarke scores at least one point | 15-0-0 |
| Dale Clarke scores a goal | 6-0-0 |
| Brandon Dietrich scores at least one point | 20-2-2 |
| Brandon Dietrich scores a goal | 10-2-2 |
| Mike Gellard scores at least one point | 21-3-1 |
| Mike Gellard scores a goal | 11-0-1 |
| Kevin Veneruzzo scores at least one point | 10-0-0 |
| Matt Desrosiers scores at least one point | 12-2-1 |
| Justin Harney scores at least one point | 13-1-1 |
TOUGH IN THE SEMIFINALS
St. Lawrence is now 7-0-0 in ECAC tournament semifinal games under the guidance of Saint coach Joe Marsh. They will be looking for their ninth straight post-season semifinal win when they take on BC. The only other NCAA semifinal appearance prior to this one for the Saints was a 3-2 win over Minnesota in 1988.
Three of the four championships during Marsh's tenure have come the year after the Saints lost in the title game. SLU lost the 1987 championship game to Harvard, but came back in 1988 to win 3-0 over Clarkson in the title game and repeated the championship with a 4-1 win over Vermont in 1989. The Saints lost to Clarkson in 1991 5-4 in the title game and won the 1992 championship with a 4-2 win over Cornell. The Saints lost to Clarkson 3-2 in last year's title game...and beat RPI 2-0 in this year's game.
Men's Ice Hockey vs. Boston College
Thursday, March 07
Men's Ice Hockey vs. Boston University
Thursday, February 28
Men's Ice Hockey vs. Massachusetts
Saturday, February 23
Men's Ice Hockey vs. UMass Lowell
Saturday, February 16
